DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic has a triple-double after making up suns Owners Matt Ishpia and Michael Porter Jr. sank five 3-pointers to help Denver Nuggets beat Phoenix 118-102 Tuesday night in Game 5 to take back the series lead.
Joker scored 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists for his 10th career triple-playoff game, breaking a tie with Wilt Chamberlain for most by a position in NBA history.
Game six is Thursday night in Phoenix. The home team won every game in this series. If that’s true again, the decisive winner-takes-all showdown is back Sunday in Denver, where the top-seeded Nuggets have the best domestic record in the NBA at 39-7, including 5-0 in the playoffs.
After Denver lost twice in a row in Phoenix, Nuggets coach Michael Malone devised a five-point plan for the Nuggets to take back control of the series: correct their transitional defense, slow down Devin Booker, get more off the bench, and unleash MPJ and shut him down. 3 sec.
Check, check, check, check and check.
Porter rebounded from a bad night in Game 4 with 19 points on 5 of 8 shooting from long range. Denver outscored Phoenix 31-23 on fast break points. Booker scored 28 points, but missed 11 of 19 shots. Bruce Brown boosted the Nuggets bench with 25 points and the Nuggets sank 13 of 27 from long range.
Kevin Durant scored 26 points for Phoenix.
The Nuggets converted a three-point halftime lead to 91-74 with a wide lead in the third quarter as Jokic hit seven of eight shots for 17 points and Booker was just 1-for-8 for 3 points.
The series reached a new level in the last minute of the third quarter when the Nuggets’ feud between the Browns and the Suns huddled on the field and Durant Jokic gave chills. Double Tech was evaluated on Durant and Brown.
Before the match, Jokic shared a warm pre-match hug – and basketball – With Ishbia, 48 hours after they quarreled over a loose ball in Phoenix in the fourth game, which led to a technical foul and a fine of $ 25,000 for the great Nuggets player.
“I wish he would pay the fine,” Jokic cracked after the match.
The Nuggets jumped out to an early 14-point lead but the Suns trailed only 52-49 at halftime, and the game would have been tied had Booker left nearly half the field on his hands just before.
Star scars
The Suns got a scare with 2.4 seconds left in the first quarter when Booker spun his left ankle after being fouled by Jeff Green on a punt attempt. Several minutes later, the Nuggets panicked when Murray turned his right ankle and walked gingerly, flicking it to stay in the game.
Tip-ins
Suns: Phoenix surrendered the first nine points of the game before Cameron Payne’s long 3-pointer at the 9:33 mark. … he sat next to Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker, derisively known to much of Colorado as “Midnight Mel” for leaving the Buffaloes job just hours after telling the booster squad he was in Boulder to stay.
Nuggets: This was the first game in the series that the leader held after one quarter to win the game. …the Nuggets held the Suns without a point for over two minutes in each of the first three quarters, and Phoenix’s first bucket of the fourth quarter came at 10:16 mar on a bucket by Durant.